The Cockcroft Institute - a collaboration between academia, national laboratories, industry and hospitals - brings together the best scientists and engineers to conceive, construct and exploit particle accelerators of all sizes; we lead the UK’s participation in flagship international facilities and experiments.

We are presently offering fully-funded PhD studentships to work on one of a number of exciting projects. As well as carrying out their research project, our postgraduates undertake additional training to develop the skills needed for later work in industry, research or academia.

In our combined Institute numbering over 200 researchers that includes over 60 postgraduate students, you will work in a vibrant community that spans fundamental science through to practical application. You will be registered with one of the four partner universities (Lancaster, Liverpool, Manchester or Strathclyde), depending upon the research project. Postgraduates will spend their time at one of the partner universities, at our Institute main site at Daresbury Laboratory in Cheshire, or at one of our collaborating laboratories such as CERN.

PhD projects are currently available within the following topics for an October 2018 start:

Scientific Frontier Facilities: developing the methods and technologies needed for the experiments of the future, including for HL-LHC, the European Spallation Source, ELI-NP, AWAKE, neutrino physics, and free-electron laser facilities.